2011-09-25 15:52

A few days ago, when I reserved some English lessons at a language school where I sometimes go with my son. One of the secretaries asked me which teacher's class I would like to take, since my favorite teacher would not be available on the day. Then she continued to say that it might be difficult for me to understand some of the teacher's accents and recommend my familiar one so that I would not have trouble.

I thought it was not worth commenting on it, so I only told her that it was all up to her to choose my teacher, but honestly I felt a bit mortified as she thought that I was a beginner in English.

Someday, I'd like the pass the first level of English proficiency test. I'd like to disprove their preconceptions that middle aged women are not good at foreign languages.

2011-09-18 19:10

After a long day, I feel so tired that I can't study nowadays. When I read English newspapers, I tend to ignore new words, although that is only my time to study English. I remember that I used to spend a lot of time on looking up new words in my dictionary.

The other day I happened to listen to the English education program on the radio while I was driving. The content was not difficult , but I had no idea how to spell one of the words in the sentences.The next day, I got the right spelling immediately when I asked a native speaker about the word.

I found the the part of the word " reconnaissance (satellite)" is a French word of "connaissance", which means knowledge in English. That small thing has awakened my interest to study again.

2011-09-11 17:45

This morning, I drove my son to the nearest train station before 7 o'clock. He was going to go to Tokyo with his best friend, just the two of them alone. On the way we did not talk much, but I only told him to be careful and if he was able to come back home safely, I'd be very happy.

He replied that he did not expect too much as usual. He didn't think that the day would be a joyful day, but he didn't want to disappoint his friend, so he decided to go just for his friends sake.

Although he has a cheerful disposition, he is pessimistic in a sense just like his mother. Once I get depressed, it takes time for me to get over it. So I often tell myself that I would not have much fun each time I go somewhere.But today I am seriously hoping that his one day trip will be something pleasant to look back on .

2011-09-04 18:08

When we read a long passage, we sometimes get confused even if it is written in Japanese, let alone in English. My son's English teacher often gives his students homework which is usually translation of a long text. I sometimes help my son with the work and I always think that his teacher overestimates his students comprehension skills, since those phrases are too long and difficult for them to understand.

A few days ago, my son came back home in a good mood, as his English teacher called on him in the class and praised him saying that he had done good job translating the sentences which the others were puzzled to even get the significance of.

It was worth explaining them to him until midnight, although I was very sleepy. At school, my son has been able to leave an good impression as a boy who is good at English, so nowadays he can't go to his English classes without preparing.